Loss In Audio Quality Playing Warped Tracks in Diff Tempo

Verooka · Post by **Verooka** » Sat Jan 08, 2005 5:05 pm

Hi All,

Pretty new to Live so bear with me, I have picked up some great advice on here which has helped me get started so far but have come across a problem which I could use some help with.

When playing back warp markered tracks I notice somtimes there's a loss in audio quality if I adjust the tempo down. It goes about 7 bpm down and the clip takes on a slight metallic quality which get worse as it slows more. I'm using some disco tracks which have quite a bit of warp markering going on (bloody live musos!) but it also happens on a fairly solid tempo house track.

I'm using a Powerbook G4 with 512meg of RAM but the CPU meter is only at 2-5%.

Any ideas? Is there a limit you can adjust the bpm? I was hoping to mix across genres and spped/slow tempo so this would be a pain in ass!

Any advice would be great.

Thanks...

scientist · Post by **scientist** » Sat Jan 08, 2005 5:19 pm

maybe you've already done this but...adjust the different warp styles...beats, tones, textures, and pitch (these are in a drop down menu in the 'sample' pane of the clip window). pitch is terrible for anything with multiple warp markers, but give the other ones a try with different settings (for grain, flux, etc) i can usually find something that works. hope that helps, and sorry if its too obvious.

scientist

zeropoint · Post by **zeropoint** » Sat Jan 08, 2005 5:31 pm

Sadly...yes you will experience loss of audio quality when adjusting tempos to the degree you suggest. You will also notice it earlier in the bass line with smaller tempo shifts. With full mixes you can sometimes get better results by changing the warp mode to tones and textures, especially where instrumental breakdowns occur. Ultimately the transparency of the stretching process is dependent on the type of material, the warp setting, the number of markers that you have moved and fixed and the degree of tempo shift. The more yellow markers you have that you moved before you fixed them the more apparent the warping will be when altering the tempo by significant amounts. This I think is one of the reasons that why right to left warping method is the way to go. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.....you can still have loads of fun though.......

sickpuppy · Post by **sickpuppy** » Sat Jan 08, 2005 7:54 pm

I'd try different warp methods as they all play the sound quite differently in my experience.

I have found that the default 'beat' mode pretty much is only useable on beats unless you want to use it for effects on other types of loop. Check out the manual for advice on which mode to use with what sort of loop.

Verooka · Post by **Verooka** » Sun Jan 09, 2005 11:44 am

Thanks for replies!

I have a disco track and there's a yellow warp marker pretty much every 4 beats (it's live instruments). I went ahead 16 bars warp marked it yellow to fix and went back from right to left every four beats and adjusted the marker (yellow) to fix it. I have a lot of yellow markers as a result! Is it better to go to the end and work back from there?

Anyone else warp marked disco stuff, I have a few (we're not talking Abba either!) I need to do.